World Battlefronts: When a Hawk Smiles

Battlewise Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific
Fleet, knew that in taking the Gilbert Islands the U.S. had taken a
short step toward Tokyo. The Admiral was proud of that step, but he
could see beyond the islands. At his first press conference in nearly a
year, he told Honolulu correspondents: "My opinion is that Japan will
be defeated from China. . . . China with her reservoir of personnel and
the possibility of airfields in easy striking distance of Japan is one
of the steps along the...